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TROLL’S-EYE VIEW

Name: TROLL’S-EYE VIEW
Author: Ellen Datlow
ISBN: 978-0-670-06141-9

A BOOK OF VILLAINOUS TALES

edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2009

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Fifteen authors, nearly all well known to fantasy readers, move to the folktale villain’s side. Jane Yolen’s “Troll” develops a taste for goat only after a lightning bolt cooks one on his bridge; Rapunzel is portrayed not as a witch’s captive but “An Unwelcome Guest” by Garth Nix; the giant’s beleaguered wife happily sees off both Jack and her oafish husband in Peter Beagle’s “Up the Down Beanstalk.” In one of the collection’s three poems, Neil Gaiman gives Sleeping Beauty’s wicked fairy voice as she insists on the importance of “Observing the Formalities.” Several supposed baddies—most notably the Bluebeard figure in Nancy Farmer’s “Castle Othello”—turn out to be victims of bad press, and despite his appetite for human babies even the helpful sprite in Michael Cadnum’s “ ’Skin” might earn some sympathy. Well, maybe not—but there’s still plenty in this all-new collection to please, challenge and amuse fans of the editors’ earlier gatherings, A Wolf at the Door (2000) and Swan Sister (2003). Brief author bios follow each selection; a list of further reading rounds it all out. (Fantasy/anthology. 10-13)

Pub Date: April 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-670-06141-9

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
AFTER
edited by Ellen Datlow ; Terri Windling

- BOOK REVIEW
TEETH
edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BEASTLY BRIDE
edited by Ellen Datlow by Anupama Chopra & edited by Terri Windling & illustrated by Charles Vess

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A YEAR DOWN YONDER

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

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Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”

This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BEST MAN
by Richard Peck

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL
by Richard Peck ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
SECRETS AT SEA
by Richard Peck illustrated by Kelly Murphy

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THE SCHOOL STORY

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Brian Selznick ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2001

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A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)